Rockford University

I am a current freshmen, but I plan on transferring in the fall to a different school. You need to have a very specific personality type to get the quintessential Rockford experience. Basically, what I am saying is that not to be big party person, or better yet to be a druggie. No social life and the city is just as bad, nothing there. The food is served in what is called BURPEE and let me tell it is rank among the campus and world one of the worst colleges for food ever, you will want to go home every weekend and break just to taste something real and just to get away with the boredom. The school advertises an extreme amount of diversity do not let that fool you; there precisely are 7 Hispanics, 25 Blacks so that states that the school is predominantly white and racism is experienced, there are also only two black professors and they are experiencing racism from the faculty.If you want to work on campus you pretty much have to be white as there are no minority workers; they do interviews. The classwork is not challenging I received an high G.P.A. one that I couldn't have gotten close in high school which seemed to be way harder. The college is so small that anyone living in Rockford had never heard of it nor know where the school located its sad; there is no sports scene either they lose every game which is funny because they hype the students and school up a lot to watch them lose. The campus is very unkept the blinds the windows in the dorm buildings and classrooms look like a 7 year olds teeth and unless you are in the quite dorm like I am you are living in a dumb, no cleans up after themselves it is discussing. the kids and I mean every class and student is stuck in high school there is a large amount of gossip the goes around and childlike behavior it is not funny. What I am telling you is that do not apply the administration does not help with anything, the school traps you by making you taking courses that does not apply to other universities so do your self and your parents pockets a favor and do not attend. The school is way to expensive to not get you employed after you graduate. the school also doesn't admit to how many transfers and dropouts they get even before the end of semesters.

1st Year Female -- Class 2018

Useful Schoolwork: A, Education Quality: F

So, I went to this school as a Pre-vet major from 2008 to 2009, but I ended up switching majors (I'm now an art major) because their biology program sucks. Their bio department consisted of three professors, I won't mention their names, but two were nice and one of them was a total jerk. His tests were terrible and he gave us very little direction on how to do the animal dissections, but would take off points for every little thing. When I found out that only he was going to be available as a teacher next semester, I just left my major, even though I had been sure it was what I wanted to do for a long time in high school. Anyway, that wasn't the extent of my problems with Rockford. The campus is badly maintained and the parking lots are full of pot holes. The dorm I lived in was dirty and had bug and mice infections, and the residence hall guy brushed off my complaints about that entirely. I had problems with vandalism and girls talking about me behind my back, and was able to make very few friends. Extra-curriculars may as well not exist because they often get so few people for each club. I tried really hard at this school and all I got to show for it was a lot of debt and a lot of snobby bitches making fun of me. These kids are mostly from the suburbs so if you're poorer or from downstate they will be all cliquey and avoid you. You think you get more mature and evolved by college age but these kids are mostly still stuck in junior high, with childish pranks and shit. Which is cool, I can kind of understand seeing as how little there is to do around campus. I wouldn't even think of coming here without a car, either. The snow is so bad throughout most of the college year that walking places like I did was a nightmare. And to get to the mall you need a car or you need to take the bus, which in my experience was unreliable and kind of scary. The inability to leave campus due to not having a car drove me insane, I was soo bored. There is no greek activity, and the staff tends to be conservative and frown on partying activities (i.e. booze), so you can get in serious trouble for having alcohol or being loud in certain dorms. At first I signed up to live in the "quiet" dorm but not only was it totally boring, they bugged me about every little peep they heard from my room. I had to apologize for things like watching TV during the day or talking to my mom on the phone at night, because the walls are paper thin. Sure I made a few friends and the faculty were mostly great people, but most of the people I met were stiff, formal, standoffish, bureaucratic, snobby, and catty. They are more Christian and more conservative than you might expect. And basically, you're living somewhere where there's nothing to do except drink on a campus that makes having fun at that almost impossible. And the educational value was pitiful. This school costs way more than it should, it's so pretentious. No one's heard of it because it's so small, so it doesn't have a reputation to speak of. And I didn't learn anything there academically that I'm not learning better right now, at my local community college, for a lot less.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2010

Faculty Accessibility: A, Education Quality: F

Rockford College is a small college in a large city, but surprisingly, there is little to nothing to around campus. Most of the students whom entered Rockford College during my Freshmen year did not come back or lasted as long as I did (almost all of them went to a larger university). It was nearly impossible to find a job after graduation since almost everyone thought it was a for-profit school; I was hoping to enter their MBA program, but the program was not even accredited by AACSB. The best thing about the college was the professors and some of the staff, everything else was just terrible (outdated technology/horrible facilities). In the end, I ended up with TONS of student loans (the college is not cheap) after graduation. Thanks Rockford College! Advice to future parents/students: do your homework before sending/coming to Rockford College. I personally felt like my friends (whom transferred from Rockford College to nearby Northern Illinois University) have gotten a better educational value for going to a larger school.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000